‘Not as much as you might think. A few risqué pictures from the girls but nothing obscene. It’s more along the lines of invitations to parties and things they want. Røed has regularly transferred money to them both on Venmo. Not large amounts, a couple of thousand, ten thousand in one go tops. But enough to render the term sugar daddy not wholly inappropriate. In one of the last messages Bertine wrote, she told Røed that she’d been contacted by a journalist looking to confirm a rumour and he’d asked her to do an interview for ten thousand kroner. She ended the message with something like
‘Mm. Lines. Cocaine or amphetamines.’
‘And sending something that
‘And you’re thinking you’ve got your
‘I know it sounds like we’re grasping at straws. But we’ve turned every stone without finding anyone in the girls’ social circles with an obvious motive, so now we’re only left with two. One is that Markus Røed may have wanted to rid himself of two girls threatening him with scandal. The other is that his wife, Helene Røed, was motivated by jealousy. The problem is the two of them give each other an alibi for both nights the girls disappeared.’
‘So I’ve gathered. What about the most obvious motive?’
‘As in?’
‘As in what you touched upon. A psychopath or a predator is at the party, happens to talk to both girls and gets their contact details.’
‘Like I said, none of the people we know were there fit the profile. And it’s highly possible that party is a dead end. Oslo is a small town, it’s not that unlikely for two girls the same age to both be at the same party.’
‘A little less likely that they both share the same sugar daddy.’
‘Maybe. According to the people we’ve spoken with, Susanne and Bertine weren’t the only ones.’
‘Mm. Have you checked that?’
‘Checked what?’
‘Who else apart from Røed’s wife could have had motive for getting rid of the competition.’
Katrine smiled wearily. ‘You and your why. I’ve missed you. Crime Squad has missed you.’
‘I doubt that.’
‘Yeah, there are a couple of other girls Røed has had sporadic contact with, but they’ve been eliminated from our inquiries. You see, Harry? Everyone we have a name for has been ruled out. So that just leaves the remainder of the world’s population.’ She rested her head against her fingertips as she massaged her temples. ‘Anyway, now we’ve got the newspapers and the rest of the media on our back. The Chief of Police and the Chief Superintendent are on our back. Even Bellman has got in touch telling us to pull out all the stops. So in my book you’re welcome to try, Harry. Just remember that we never had this conversation. Naturally, we can’t cooperate, not even unofficially, and I can’t give you any information other than what I’m also going public with. Apart from what I’ve already told you.’
‘Understood.’
‘I’m sure you understand too that there are those at Police HQ who won’t look kindly on competition from the private sector. Especially when the competition has been bought and paid for by a potential suspect. You can imagine what a defeat it would be for the Chief Superintendent and Kripos if you solve the case before us. For all I know there may be legal grounds for stopping you, and if there are my guess is they’ll use them.’
‘I presume Johan Krohn has examined that angle.’
‘Oh yeah, Røed has him on the team, I’d forgotten that.’
‘Anything you can tell me about the crime scene?’
‘Two sets of footprints on the way in, one on the way out. I think he cleaned up after himself.’
‘Has a post-mortem been conducted on Susanne Andersen?’
‘Just a forensic one yesterday.’
‘They find anything?’
‘A slit throat.’
Harry nodded. ‘Rape?’
‘No visible signs.’
‘Anything else?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You look like you found out something more.’
Katrine didn’t answer.
‘I get it,’ Harry said. ‘Information you can’t go public with.’
‘I’ve told you too much already, Harry.’
‘I hear you. But I assume you won’t turn your nose up at information flowing in the opposite direction should we uncover something?’
She shrugged. ‘The police can’t very well deny the public calling with any information they might have. But there’s no reward being offered.’
‘Understood.’ Harry checked the time. Three and a half hours to midnight.
